1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to vehicles. More specifically, the invention is directed to vehicles that may pose security threats to security areas.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past twenty years or so, there has been a rash of bombings using vehicles laden with explosives. Vehicles, in this context, include any self-propelled machines such as aircrafts, vessels (i.e., boats), cars etc. As an example, 63 people died in 1983 when a suicide bomber driving a van loaded with explosives destroyed the front portion of the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Later that year, 245 United States marines, soldiers and sailors were killed and 146 wounded when a suicide bomber exploded a truck loaded with explosives near US Marine barracks in that same city. Minutes later, 58 French paratroopers were killed in their barracks by another truck bomb.
In 1993, a truck exploded in a basement garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, N.Y. killing six and injuring more than 1,040 people. In 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children. In 1996, a truck bomb exploded outside of Khobar Towers military complex killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In 1998, two truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near two US Embassies, one in Nairobi, Kenya and the other in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500 others. In 2000, U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole was heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside the destroyer in Aden, Yemen. Seventeen sailors were killed. In 2001, the twin towers making up the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed when hijackers crashed two commercial airplanes each into a tower. One hour or so later, another hijacked airplane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. The total dead and missing in these incidents numbered more than 2,800. Although the hijacked airplanes were not loaded with explosives, the airplanes themselves, which each were fueled for a trans-continental flight, were used as the bombs.
In all the incidents mentioned above, the vehicle bombs were able to inflict as many human casualties and as much damage as they did because of their close proximity to the target structures when they exploded. If vehicles that may present security threats are restricted from being within a security zone of sensitive areas, damages and/or casualties may                be greatly reduced or altogether eliminated.        
Thus, what is needed is a method, apparatus and system for identifying vehicles that may present a safety threat to a security area and for taking commensurate actions where they are so identified.